ahhh....

just spent an amazing weekend with chris and 8 other couples at a couples' retreat up at spruce lake resort.  all of the couples were from our church, and we spent the time laughing and eating a ton, and just getting to know our spouses better.  it was such a nice change of pace from the monotony of going to work, making dinner, working on the house, and going to bed!  i loved it and i hope we can go back next year.  

just finished typing up the rest of the week's lesson plans (ugh) and now i get to help chris do the living room floor (lucky me!).  our ceiling was finally installed on thursday night, the walls have been painted, so all that's left is the floor.  then we can finally bring our sofas and chair in from the garage and have a place to relax at night that is not the dining room table or the bed.  i think i just might die of happiness when that happens.  

off to work!  

Randomness

Aren't you just loving fall this year?! We've been drinking a lot of cold apple cider this year, but on Saturday I was at this cute little shop and they had hot apple cider with oranges as part of a big fall sale. It was blissful. lol

The older I get, the more I appreciate Thanksgiving as a holiday - in fact, it's now my official favorite. Of course I appreciate Christmas more in the sense that it's symbolizes Christ's incarnation (and all of the wonder and mystery and grace and promise that involves), but if we're strictly speaking holidays, Thanksgiving now tops my list.

Why? Well, it suddenly dawned on me last night that for the past 6+ years, Thanksgiving has represented the first time after many months that all of my immediate family is together again. The food, the parade, the fall colors, spending quality time with everyone, the knowledge of Christmas still coming....it all combines to make it just the best day/weekend of the year! I think every year that I get older, I appreciate my life more. Especially after this year, with all of its unexpected heartache - my family really is so special and I cherish them all so dearly.

Anyway, if I had the motivation to load pictures right now, I would show you my fall decorations, because they're super cute and classy if I do say so myself.

But I currently have over 500 photos on my camera. Would you want to upload them and sort through all 500?

I didn't think so. ;)


Time for Curves! I'm slowly losing weight again and have a definite goal I'd like to reach before I reach the holiday season!

Embrace the loveliness of today!